Current Press Releases

Landmark Standards for Humane Treatment of Farm Animals Being Developed in New Jersey

NEW JERSEY- April 12, 2001 - The New Jersey legislature has charged the New Jersey Department of Agriculture with the unique task of developing "standards for the humane raising, keeping, care, treatment, marketing, and sale of domestic livestock." By developing meaningful humane standards, New Jersey could become the first state in the U.S. to preclude cruel farming practices -- such as the production of veal (where calves are confined in two foot wide crates for their entire lives and fed an anemic diet in order to produce the pale colored meat).

To date, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture has received approximately 15,000 letters from concerned citizens (including eight letters from NJ state legislators) urging that the Department draft meaningful humane standards which would prohibit cruel farming systems. Information about specific inhumane farming practices is available online at www.factoryfarming.com.

While cruel farming practices have been outlawed across Europe, no such laws currently exist in the United States. In fact, farm animals are specifically excluded from the federal Animal Welfare Act, and they are excluded from most state anti-cruelty laws.

Public opinion polls have found that most U.S. consumers oppose cruel practices which are commonly employed on factory farms, but these systems have remained largely out of public sight until recently. However, there is a growing popular concern about the inhumane treatment of farm animals, and recently McDonald's announced that it would require its suppliers to treat animals more humanely.

While industry leaders urge reforms, some industry representatives still defend intolerable practices. For example, when two live chickens were discarded in a trash can full of dead birds at a New Jersey egg factory, the egg producer (ISE Corporation of Broadway, NJ) argued that it could legally treat living hens like manure. ISE argued in court that it is legal to throw live hens in the trash.

About Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.